ABSTRACT:
This article conceptualises a common approach to train teachers and university lecturers in integrating the use of e-keys produced by the EU-funded project KeyToNature in the design, development, and delivery of e-learning modules within their school practice. The approach is based on setting and administering learning scenarios developed around real practice assignments that have at their core the identification of organisms and end up with the creation of meaningful biodiversity information products, rooted in concrete environmental contexts. The learning products may even include the creation of specific sub-keys from the initially used e-keys. The paper briefly describes the application and the real testing of the approach in an experimental teacher training course conducted in Bulgaria within the
KeyToNature project.

3.
All content is copyrighted by the individual authors of the contributions and licensed
under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share-Alike License (CC by-sa 3.0).
EUT 2010.
Information in this book does not represent the opinion of the European Community and
the European Community is not responsible for any use that might be made of it.
ISBN 978-88-8303-295-0
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5.
foreword
The correct identification of organisms is fundamental not only for the
assessment and the conservation of biodiversity, but also in agriculture, forestry,
the food and pharmaceutical industries, forensic biology, and in the broad field
of formal and informal education at all levels. However, since the first Meeting
of the Systematics Association on «Biological identification with computers», in
1973, few scientific events have been dedicated to this subject. Furthermore,
taxonomists, workers in biodiversity informatics, and the large community of
users are rarely all gathered together.
Since the 1990s, the number of projects developing information repositories
has greatly increased: Fishbase, GBIF, Species 2000, OBIS, EuroMed-
PlantBase, Fauna Europaea, EoL etc. to cite only some of them. Until now,
identification tools were poorly represented in such systems. This is already
changing, and Fishbase is a good example illustrating the need to include
identification facilities with biodiversity databases, and to adapt the keys to
different types of users. International conferences on biodiversity research,
tools and methods using ICT, are becoming more and more numerous. In the
last decades, important advances have taken place in the ways identification is
carried out, from molecular and biochemical methods of rapid identification to the
development of interactive identification systems based on morpho-anatomical
data. The effort to propose and to popularize identification tools using all types
of biological characters (sequences, morphology, images, sounds etc.) must be
continued.
The event «Tools for identifying biodiversity: progress and problems»
offers an opportunity to provide an overview of recent advances in this field.
It aims at stimulating integration of existing methods and systems, fostering
communication amongst different research groups, and laying the foundations
for integrated projects in the next decade. The congress was organised jointly
by three large European projects dedicated to biodiversity and/or biological
identification: KeyToNature, EDIT (European Distributed Institute of Taxonomy),
and STERNA (Semantic Web-based Thematic European Reference Network
Application).
iii

6.
The scientific program of the congress was subdivided into four sessions:
• Interactive identification tools based on morpho-anatomical data
• Molecular and biochemical methods for the identification of organisms
• Identification and education
• Industrial and practical applications of the new identification tools: case-
studies and markets
In this book, the reader will find short presentations of current and upcoming
projects (EDIT, KeyToNature, STERNA, Species 2000, Fishbase, BHL, ViBRANT,
etc.), plus a large panel of short articles on software, taxonomic applications,
use of e-keys in the educational field, and practical applications. Single-access
keys are now available on most recent electronic devices; the collaborative
and semantic web opens new ways to develop and to share applications; the
automatic processing of molecular data and images is now based on validated
systems; identification tools appear as an efficient support for environmental
education and training; the monitoring of invasive and protected species and
the study of climate change require intensive identifications of specimens, which
opens new markets for identification research.
Pier Luigi Nimis, Régine Vignes Lebbe
Trieste – Paris, September 2010
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Nimis P. L., Vignes Lebbe R. (eds.)
Tools for Identifying Biodiversity: Progress and Problems – pp. 355-360.
ISBN 978-88-8303-295-0. EUT, 2010.
An assignment-based
e-learning course on the use of
KeyToNature e-keys
Pencho Mihnev, Nadezhda Raycheva
Abstract — This article conceptualises a common approach to train teachers
and university lecturers in integrating the use of e-keys produced by the
EU-funded project KeyToNature in the design, development, and delivery
of e-learning modules within their school practice. The approach is based
on setting and administering learning scenarios developed around real
practice assignments that have at their core the identification of organisms
and end up with the creation of meaningful biodiversity information products,
rooted in concrete environmental contexts. The learning products may even
include the creation of specific sub-keys from the initially used e-keys. The
paper briefly describes the application and the real testing of the approach
in an experimental teacher training course conducted in Bulgaria within the
KeyToNature project.
Index Terms — active learning, assignment, biodiversity, e-keys, e-learning
course, identification tools, learning design, teacher training.
—————————— u ——————————
1 introduction
T
he KeyToNature project shares a big variety of electronic identification
tools and instruments for their handling in different modes and on different
hardware and software platforms. Using and integrating these tools within
different learning scenarios and contexts is a concrete task of the teachers. Some
or all stages of the applied learning scenarios and the resulting final products are
often not digitised, which has obvious negative effects. Another consideration
related to the digitisation is the use of different e-tools not pertaining to a united
system. This complicates the organisation of learning, leads to efficiency issues,
and may lower the re-usage potential of the achieved results.
————————————————
P. Mihnev is with BIKAM Ltd., 46, Oborishte str., Sofia 1505, Bulgaria. E-mail: pmihnev@gmail.
com – N. Raycheva is with the Department for In-Service Teacher Training, Sofia University “St.
Kl. Ohridski”, 224, Tzar Boris III bld., Sofia, Bulgaria. E-mail: raycheva.n@gmail.com.
355

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2 the uSe of a learning management SyStem aS a learning
platform for the creation of effective ScenarioS
The identification process is “a means to an end”, not “the end” itself. An
implication about learning by using identification tools is that the identification
needs to be integrated in wider contexts of meaningful learning scenarios.
Designing good scenarios requires good pedagogical skills, knowledge of the
subject matter, adequate technological skills, and the availability of technological
facilities for implementation. A scenario should also reflect the active learning
and motivational findings researched and described by learning and motivation
theories, e.g. [1], [2], and [3].
The identification process is per se an active learning. The keys themselves
become more complex, integrating add-ons that facilitate re-usage and complex
learning activities.
In order to maximise the positive effects of the e-keys, one can use the support
of e-learning platforms. A newer and richer concept about the use of e-learning
platforms is that activities and not the content are in the core of an e-learning
platform.
This concept directly corresponds both to the active learning methods and to
the creation of contexts which exploit positive motivation factors.
Another feature of all widespread e-learning platforms is the inter-linkage of all
resources, activities, communication, organisation, and assessment tools within
the platform. This enables more complex learning events and activities to be
organised and conducted as a “learning whole”.
The authors have designed an experimental curriculum for teacher training to
develop and use e-learning modules for students having as their core activity
identification processes based on the use of e-keys. The Moodle learning
management system (e-learning platform) was chosen for the concrete course
design.
The main teacher training target group consisted of biology teachers that have
average ICT-skills, are able to work with e-keys, but are not trained to work with
any e-learning platform.
We have chosen to use only a few, but very important and powerful e-tools of the
platform (resources and activities) that can add real value in the implementation
of meaningful learning scenarios for the use of e-keys.
3 the teacher training curriculum – the courSe Study
programme
The teacher training course curriculum consisted of two main parts: the first
part puts the teacher in a student role to alter her/his viewpoint in experiencing
learning. The second part trains teachers on how to construct and conduct an
e-Learning course.
The first part is based on Assignment 1:
“As a trainee in the first part of this course you - preferably in a team of 2 to 3
persons - should:
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15.
• Produce an electronic “Profile of a tree”, following a predefined structure,
by using the information previously entered for that purpose by your
team in the e-learning platform.
• Publish and present in an attractive and appealing way your electronic
“Profile of a tree” by using the tools and instruments of the e-learning
platform.
• Edit and complement the identification key with collected and/or
personally developed material.”
This assignment consists of activities in two different environments: in the field
and in the classroom.
Activities in the filed include tree identification with the e-key and observation
of the characteristics that are used to identify it. Activities in the classroom
include working on the structure of a tree profile and editing a e-key. The tree
profile describes the following information:
1. Name of the tree: Latin, Bulgarian; 2. Classification (levels of detail: on
learner’s own judgment); 3 Photos (minimum 3 taken by the learner, and 2 from
the e-key) - they should present a natural view of tree, leaf - margin, upper
and lower surface, flower and fruit; 4. Description (following a worksheet); 5.
Importance for mankind; 6. Do you know that… (interesting facts/information
about the species); 7. Additional information – personal comments (personal
opinion); 8. References and resources used.
The second part is based on the Assignment: “Develop your own e-module on
identification for your specific case (subject, grade, and students)”.
The curriculum, structured in chapters and activities, can be reviewed in the
folder “Materials” of [4].
4 the courSe
An experimental course was conducted on July 8th and 9th 2010 at the
Department of Information and In-Service Teacher Training of the Sofia
University. The Department campus includes a small park in front of the buildings
where the field work was carried out.
Twelve participants took part in the course – 8 Biology school teachers, 2
Biology trainers from a training centre, 1 university lecturer in Botany, 1 Science
expert from a Regional Educational Inspectorate. The course was held by the
authors of this article.
The entry level of the course participants with respect to their ICT knowledge
and skills was as follows:
1. All participants were able to work with the e-keys of KeyToNature;
2. No participant worked previously with the Open Key Editor1;
3. All participants had an “average” skill level for working with ICT, namely:
Windows, e-mail, Internet, MS Word, MS PowerPoint;
4. Only one participant worked previously with an e-learning platform - Moodle
————————————————
The Open Key Editor is a software developed within KeyToNature. It permits to edit already existing
keys or sub-keys extracted from them, by changing the text, adding images, adding new species,
changing the structure of the e-key, and even creating new e-keys from scratch.
357

16.
- without using it after the training.
The aim of the course was to test the developed curriculum and to receive
feedback on effectiveness and efficiency of the course.
The twelve participants were grouped into 5 permanent groups; the work was
conducted by each group as a whole.
In broad terms, the course time frame was set in the following way:
1. First half of the first day – work in the field: trees’ identification, gathering
additional information (taking photos, observing the environment, taking notes),
and filling-in the “terrain” part of Worksheet 1 (profile of the tree);
2. Second half of the first day – work as an user of the Moodle platform
and of the e-learning course: collecting the requested additional information
from Internet and from the e-key, entering the collected data in the interactive
geographic map of Moodle and in the prepared course multimedia database;
working with the Open Key Editor and developing a sub-key.
Homework: development of a short PowerPoint presentation about the profile
of the identified tree.
3. First half of the second day – Design of e-learning modules in Moodle:
e-Course setting, student enrollment, work with selected resources (labels,
folders, hyperlinked text, access to different study materials); developing an
e-course programme/syllabus.
4. Second half of the second day – work with selected activities in Moodle:
setting up interactive geographic maps, developing a database, developing an
assignment, setting up a glossary. Starting the design of each trainee’s own
e-learning module.
Homework: Full design and preparation of the e-learning module, ready for
use by students.
It was very encouraging to see that all groups managed to perform well the
required activities and to develop the products envisaged in the course.
The results of the work of each group from the course can be seen in the
Bikam’s KeyToNature Moodle platform [4]. Photos from the teacher training
course can be seen at the web-address provided in [5].
5 evaluation of the teacher training courSe
5.1 colleS - conStructiviSt on-line learning environment Survey
We used COLLES [6] as one of the two survey instruments to evaluate the
course. COLLES comprises 24 statements grouped into six scales. The six
groups are Relevance, Reflection, Interactivity, Tutor Support, Peer Support,
and Interpretation. The concrete survey questions grouped by categories can
be reviewed at [7]. Graph charts with all survey results can be viewed at [4].
Important feedback from the teachers’ answers was that:
1. In terms of the question categories the course scores higher than the middle
value of occurrence in the scale (“Sometimes”).
2. The highest, almost maximal, score in the survey is assigned to the course
relevance category. According to J. Cole and H. Foster [8], p. 192, the Relevance
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17.
category is the most important with respect to the assessment of the course
design.
5.2 free-form opinion Survey
In the second, free-form opinion survey, participants were asked about the
strong and weak sides of the course and its methodology.
The articulated strong sides were:
1. The power of the e-learning platform to offer electronic means that unite into
a learning whole and serve the overall learning process.
2. The power of attractivity to students of the final products created within (or
with the support of) the e-learning platform.
The most often mentioned weak sides were related to:
1. The eventual lack of sufficient hardware for the implementation of e-learning
scenarios - laptops for field work, the availability of computer labs.
2. About the course delivery – the very short duration of the course – only 2
days. The participants didn’t know that the course was intentionally compressed
to last only two days in order to test the possibility of achieving the main goals
in such a short training time.
6 Summary and concluSionS
The e-course proved to be a success, especially having in mind the intentionally
imposed extreme constraints (unskilled trainees to work with e-platform, and
short duration of the course).
The use of an activity-based e-learning platform as Moodle maximises the
learners’ motivation, effectiveness, and efficiency of both students’ learning and
teacher preparation. The teachers have to be trained accordingly, preferably
initially through a simple, not overwhelming training that utilises only some, yet
powerful, learning activities in the e-learning platform.
Two other important implications are that our curriculum & learning design
approach proved to be:
1. “e-key independent”. It can be used with any interactive identification key,
irrespective of the organisms it identifies.
2. “e-learning platform independent”, providing that the corresponding platform
has a set of functionalities/instruments that can realise appropriate learning
activities.
Furthermore, the opportunity to mix/blend the course could be considered, to
organise its delivery partly face-to-face, partly by distance.
The course was prepared in levels, in a modular way. This article has discussed
only the first, initial level of the curriculum, which was also tested with teachers
in the course. The next two course levels are meant to update and upgrade
the knowledge and skills of the teachers, to fully employ the functionalities and
instruments of the platform.
As a next step in learning design and delivery inquiries, it will be interesting
to test the delivery of an entirely distance-online course, following the outlined
curriculum.
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